Mr. Reger, Neurogeneticist PhD Candidate at UMBC
Published 06 Jul 2020
Tags: biology, research, scienceWhy did you choose to pursue this career? What made you certain this was the right path?
I chose a career in neurogenetics because I enjoyed the intellectual stimulation it provided me with. I am actually not certain that this was the right path for me. In order to be certain about your actions, you must lack any doubt. If you lack doubt then you do not truly think. As a scientist, it is important to be able to doubt. We often teach students that doubt and failure are wrong when in fact they should be embraced.
What events, prior employment, or educational experiences led you to your current job?
When I was young I wanted to go into medicine. When I got to college, I became more interested in biological research and less interested in medicine. I ultimately enrolled in a combined BS/MS program at my university. After finishing my diplomas I was employed as a Research Laboratory Technician for two years.
What schooling, education, and/or certifications did you complete to prepare you for this career?
As an undergraduate I majored in Philosophy and Biology with minors in Mathematics and Chemistry. I received my MS in Biology.
How did you make the best use of your time in both your education and career?
I try to fill my time by reading or thinking. When reading, it is important to read materials outside of your field of research or interest. Many groups are too insular. By reading a broad array of works you have the opportunity to see how other people engage with problems and how they solve them. It is also important to think about problems without actively doing other things. I often stare out the window and reflect about the problems I am trying to solve.
What advice would you give to a high school or college student interested in pursuing this field of work?
I always tell my students that in science you will fail more than you will succeed. Experiments won’t always work, and things go wrong. There are also no grades or correct answers in research. There is only the data and the interpretation of data.
What opportunities would you suggest high school students participate in?
As a high school student, I never had many opportunities to get involved in STEM and it seems to have worked out for me. What is important is to explore as many ideas as possible and to try and read things outside of science. Science and medicine are two heavily gilded fields and often appear glamorous to young students. It is important to be intellectually adventurous when you are young.
What opportunities did you take as a student that helped advance your career (research, internships, etc.)
What was important for my career was that I got involved in research. You cannot know if you will enjoy research until you are in a research lab. It is never too early to email professors to ask to meet and discuss their research interests and ask whether they are taking on new students.
What do you wish you had done differently with regards to your career/education?
In hindsight, there are two things I wish I would have done differently: 1) joined a research lab as an undergraduate sooner and 2) joined a different PhD program.
What does a typical day at your job look like?
A typical day for me mostly involves drinking coffee and thinking about projects. The best projects are the ones that you plan extensively and think about the question you are trying to answer. The worst projects are the ones that don’t have a definitive answer that you are trying to address. As a neurogeneticist, I am interested in understanding how certain genes regulate development and behavior. I am primarily interested in understanding the developmental roles of the Amyloid Precursor Protein. As my primary interest is in development, I have to perform experiments that involve microscopy, molecular techniques, as well as behavioral experiments.
What was a surprising aspect of your job?
I think the most surprising aspect and least understood part of my job is the sheer amount of bureaucracy and how important it is to have a lab that actively communicates. In science, you are constantly writing and trying to justify your actions to others. It is also vital that you work in a lab that communicates as you need to be able to talk about your work to people who do not see it every day.
What qualities are necessary to be successful in your field of work, and why?
In science, you have to be willing to accept failure and criticism. You also have to be pragmatic; a lab only has so much time and money and not all projects are going to work. You need to be able to balance the projects that are likely to work against those that are not as likely to work. A lab lives and dies by their ability to produce results. As an individual that does not work on disease models it was vital that I be an absurdist. I do not perform my work because I think it has any meaning; I seek knowledge for knowledge’s sake. The field of biology is saturated with individuals who constantly insult and belittle one another’s work. If you seek validation from your peers, you are in for a rough time.
Do you have any additional advice?
The biggest advice I can offer people is that they do not believe anything anyone says wholeheartedly. We all have perspectives, experiences, and motives. We all need to practice the ability to think critically about what is said and form our own thoughts. Nothing in life is certain and all you can do is your best. What is important is that a person identify what is important to them and live with integrity.